The Federal Government's deal to take 4,000 refugees from Malaysia will cost taxpayers $216 million over four years, budget figures show.

The 1,000-person-a-year increase under the Humanitarian Migration Program will increase the annual intake to 14,750.

The measure will cost $30.5 million in 2011-12 and rise to $79 million in 2014-15.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says the refugee program will consist of 7,000 places, primarily those who have been referred to Australia for resettlement by the UNHCR.

"The focus will continue to be on refugees from three priority regions of Africa, the Middle East and Asia," he said.

There will also be 7,750 places in the special humanitarian program, including asylum seekers found to be refugees.

Among other measures, the Government has committed to an increase in permanent migration to 185,000 visas in 2011-12 to help ease skills shortages, particularly in regional areas.

Mr Bowen says about two-thirds of these will be skilled migrants and includes the already-announced 16,000 places to be allocated for regional Australia.

The Minister also says the Government will look at halving the processing times for 457 visas and introduce a new temporary migration scheme, labelled enterprise migration agreements.

Meanwhile, the Government will spend $492 million over four years under its development partnership with Indonesia in aid for education, including the building of 2,000 extra junior secondary schools in poor areas.

It is expected to benefit 30,000 children and train more than 10,000 teachers.

Programs to help improve women's health and reduce infant mortality in Africa will cost $462 million over four years, while Australia's humanitarian, emergency and refugee-related aid is tipped to reach $325 million.

Australia's commitment to Official Development Assistance will also rise to 0.5 per cent of gross national income by 2015-16, with the budget outlining new aid of $1.9 billion over four years.